Back in the day, every major label had a studio band to support either a vocalist or group. For Motown, it was the Funk Brothers, with Dennis Coffey being the guitarist on hits like “Cloud Nine” and “Just My Imagination” for groups like The Temptations, The Supremes, Edwin Starr and Smokey Robinson.
This album shows that the venerable guitarist still holds the high professional standard, as he stayed local, gigging at Detroit club Baker’s (he still plays weekly in the Motor City) here in a 2006 set with Demetrius Nabors/key, Gaelynn McKinney/dr and Damon Warmack/b with a song selection as eclectic as it is encyclopedic.
Coffey and company show their jazz hand early, giving a hip Latin feel to Freddie Hubbard’s “Little Sunflower” and featuring Warmack with a hip bass line for Miles Davis’ “All Blues.” Coffey is gorgeous on a rich “Moonlight in Vermont” and his lovely take of “Just My Imagination” allows everyone to stretch out a bit. The team gets into an R&B groove for “Chicago Song” and Coffey’s own 1971 hit “Scorpio” is a rocking psychedelic affair with some vintage whacka wooka. The team shows some soul grooves on “ The Sermon” and the closer “Dink’s Blues.” This is his third recent reissue, and it’s more like an invitation to take a plane to the Motor City, see a Tiger’s game and sit in Coffey’s club for a set of guys who are masters at their crafts. A real pleaser and workshop of how a guitarist should approach this thing called modern music.